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Trump says Israel-PA peace deal will be unveiled Prime Netanyahu and Gantz arrive in Washington next Tuesday

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Earlier on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said that Netanyahu and Gantz have both accepted the Trump Administration's invitation to the White House next week to discuss the administration's upcoming Middle East peace plan. Photo Credit: US Embassy in Israel Trump: 'Deal of the Century' Will be Unveiled in the Coming Days

By: Elad Benari

President Trump announced on Thursday that he will unveil the “Deal of the Century” in the coming days and before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz arrive in Washington.

Trump added that officials in his administration had briefly spoken to senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and will be speaking to them again soon.

“They may react negatively at first, but it is actually positive for them and they have a lot of incentive to do it,” Trump told reporters.

“It’s a great plan. It’s a plan that really would work,” he added. “I’d love to be able to do that deal. They say that’s the hardest of all deals.”

Earlier on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said that Netanyahu and Gantz have both accepted the Trump Administration’s invitation to the White House next week to discuss the administration’s upcoming Middle East peace plan.

“President Trump asked me to extend an invitation for Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week, to discuss regional issues as well as the prospect of peace here in the Holy Land,” Pence told reporters.
The Vice President added that he invited Gantz at Netanyahu’s suggestion.

Netanyahu said, “I suggested that Benny Gantz be invited to this event as well, because I think that it’s important that we do not lose this historic opportunity. With such friends in the White House, with such backing from the United States, we should get as broad a consensus as possible around the efforts to achieve security and peace, peace and security for the State of Israel.”

“I look forward to doing both, and I thank you again for your extraordinary friendship. Thank you,” he added.

Meanwhile, Channel 12 News’ Amit Segal published details of what he said was the Trump administration’s peace plan.

According to Segal, the plan would allow Israel to apply sovereignty to all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria immediately.

In addition, all but 15 Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria would be included in a territoriality continuous bloc which would come under Israeli sovereignty. The remaining 15 Israeli towns would also be placed under Israeli sovereignty, but as smaller enclaves outside of the larger bloc. In total, Israel would apply sovereignty to about 30% of all the land in Judea and Samaria.

Jerusalem would remain entirely under Israeli sovereignty. Israel would be required to recognize a Palestinian Arab state on the remaining 70% of Judea and Samaria.

Trump dismissed the report, saying that “reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative.” (INN)

New Bail Reform & Sanctuary City Laws Continue to Unnerve NYers

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The latest examples of how New York state and NYC’s lax laws on criminals and “undocumented” people are making NY more dangerous by the minute.  Photo Credit: Shutterstock

By: Wayne Numanstein

A bank robber who was arrested in connection to four robberies on January 9th, was let go without bail and was free to rob two more banks, before turning himself in. 

A 21-year-old illegal immigrant who was released from prison late last year after attacking his father went on to brutally rape and murder a 92-year-old woman in Queens after being released from prison because of de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policies.

These are 2 of the latest examples of how New York state and NYC’s lax laws on criminals and “undocumented” people are making NY more dangerous by the minute. 

The N.Y Post reported: “Under the new bail reforms, which took hold Jan. 1, Gerod Woodberry, 42, is considered a non-violent defendant because he allegedly used notes to demand dough from banks in Brooklyn and Manhattan. State law forbids judges from setting any bail for him under the new law”

After the suspect turned himself in to the Manhattan Criminal Court building last Friday, federal prosecutors had to take over the case, in order to prevent him from being released from jail once more without bail. 

“No sound, rational and fair criminal justice system requires the pre-trial release of criminal defendants who demonstrate such determination to continuously commit serious crimes,” Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue said in announcing the criminal complaint against him and calling the spree “unprecedented”, the N.Y Post reported. 

The suspect himself was amazed that he was initially released from prison. “I can’t believe they let me out,” sources told the Post, after he was released from jail in early January after the first slew or bank robberies. 

The combination of the new bail reform laws and de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policies have made New York City a very crime friendly city and the entire state powerless to stop crime in general.

Reeaz Khan was previously arrested for assaulting his father in November of 2019 but was released almost instantly because of his “undocumented” citizenship status. 

Khan then went on to violently rape a 92-year-old woman on the streets of Queens, resulting in her death. 

In a statement issued by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement last  Tuesday, officials said Mr. Khan was “an unlawfully present Guyanese national” who had been released “due to New York City’s sanctuary policies”, the N.Y Times reported. 

ICE officials said they had issued what is known as a detainer in November requesting that law enforcement turn over Mr. Khan for possible deportation after he was arrested and charged with attacking his father with a broken coffee cup.

The New York City Police Department disputed the claim on Tuesday, saying that it “did not receive an ICE detainer in regard to this individual” after he had been arrested on Nov. 27, said Sgt. Mary Frances O’Donnell, a department spokeswoman.

On Wednesday, ICE released a copy of the fax transmission form appended to the detainer, which was dated Nov. 27.

It would appear that local police are literally ignoring ICE detainers, due to the bleeding-heart leftist policies of Bill de Blasio.

Thomas Decker, field office director for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, said in the statement issued on Tuesday: “It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets”, the NY Times reported 

He added: “New York City’s sanctuary policies continue to threaten the safety of all residents of the five boroughs.”

 

Survey: 70% of French Jews Experienced Anti-Semitism

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Flowers and a French flag outside the Hypercacher kosher supermarket. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

By: Aryeh Savir
A staggering 70% of French Jews say they have been victims of anti-Semitism, 59% suffered physical abuse in school and 46% suffered verbal abuse at work, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) on the issue.

Other disturbing findings in the survey showed that young French Jews between the ages of 18-24 are most vulnerable to anti-Semitism.
More than 8 out of 10 young French Jews have suffered at least one anti-Semitic incident, and 39% have been the victims of physical violence.
Attempting to avoid anti-Semitic attacks, more than a third of French Jews refrain from wearing Jewish symbols in public, and a quarter avoids revealing their Jewish identity at work, and 40% avoid arriving at certain areas to circumvent attacks.

The report did not touch on the perpetrators’ identity, whether they be neo-Nazis or Muslim immigrants from Africa.
Overall, 44% of the Jewish respondents said the situation for French Jews is worse than a year ago, only 11% say it is better and 42% said it was not better or worse.
Some 52% of French Jews have considered leaving France while Israel has seen several large waves of Aliyah of French Jews in recent years.
Between the years 2000 and 2017, 10 percent of the French Jewish community, the largest in Europe, immigrated to Israel.

Some 38,000 arrived in Israel in the past decade. The number of Olim from France peaked this decade, with the new Olim coming in the past 10 years constituting nearly one-third of the total Olim from France since the establishment of Israel. In 2015, a record number of Olim came from France with the arrival of 7,892 French Jews.

Interestingly, 73% of the French general public and 72% of French Jews agree that anti-Semitism affects all of society and not only the Jews.

The National Assembly in France in December voted in favor of a resolution that endorses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which also defines anti-Zionism as a form of Jew-hatred.

“This has to stop,” said Ann Sebban-Bécache, Director of AJC Paris. “The fight against anti-Semitism must be a national priority which has the adequate means to cover all of France.”
The AJC Paris study was conducted by IFOP, a leading polling firm, in partnership with Fondapol, a major French think tank. They polled 505 French Jews and 1,027 French people between October 14 and November 19, 2019. (TPS)

Parshas Vaera – The Art of Comfort and Consolation

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"I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with great miracles; I shall take you to Me to be a people, and I will bring you to the promised land" (Exodus, 6). Photo Caption - To find the proper words on such occasions is never easy, but that was the challenge of Moshe Rabbenu as he addressed his brethren who were suffering in Egyptian bondage. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis

To find the proper words on such occasions is never easy, but that was the challenge of Moshe Rabbenu as he addressed his brethren who were suffering in Egyptian bondage. At the beginning of the parsha, G-d charged Moshe with the mission of announcing to the Jewish people that the time of their liberation was at hand. HaShem used four different expressions in describing their redemption. “I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with great miracles; I shall take you to Me to be a people, and I will bring you to the promised land” (Exodus, 6).

Despite this awesome promise however, the Jewish people remained dispirited and incapable of absorbing the good news. The explanation for this reveals the nature of suffering and how one may best comfort those who are hurting. When someone is in pain, he does not have the patience or the ability to comprehend that which will occur in the future. His agony is so overwhelming that he is aware only of the here and now. In his pain he cannot contemplate the future. Therefore, the Almighty G-d instructs Moshe and Aaron once again and commands them to bring the children of Israel forth from Egypt (Exodus 6:13) teaching us that when someone is in distress, we have to extend immediate help. Thus, when encouraging those who have lost hope, let us not content ourselves with visions of the future. Rather, let us do something concrete to relieve their pain and infuse them with hope.

In this same passage, G-d also instructs Moshe to be gentle and patient with the people – a basic ingredient that is required of all leaders. The Midrash teaches that HaShem told Moshe and Aaron: “My children are often stubborn and recalcitrant. They are quick to anger and troublesome. It is under these conditions that you should undertake to accept leadership over them..” This teaching has bearing, not only for leaders, but for each and every one of us. In every family, there are situations in which one`s patience is sorely tried. At such times, we must exercise forbearance, remain calm and respond with strength and dignity.

This passage has yet a third interpretation. It is written in the Talmud that it was at this moment of crisis for the Jewish people that G-d told Moshe to command the nation regarding the emancipation of slaves that would take place once they entered the promised land. At first glance, this appears far-fetched. The nation is in bondage, so what possible relevance can such instructions have? But the Torah is teaching us that it is precisely when you are in the throes of suffering that you must make a commitment to banish suffering – to convert that pain into a healing experience. It is in this spirit that the Torah calls upon us to remember our bondage and exodus from Egypt (Zeicher l`Tziyas Mitzraim) and relate to the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and all those in need with compassion and love. (Hineni.org)

Trump Impeachment Trial Ready to Begin

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The impeachment trial of President Trump begins in full Tuesday in the U.S. Senate — only the third time in U.S. history a president faces removal from office for allegedly violating his oath. Photo Credit: C-SPAN

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The impeachment trial of President Trump begins in full Tuesday in the U.S. Senate — only the third time in U.S. history a president faces removal from office for allegedly violating his oath.

One of the first pieces of business for the Senate is a vote on Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed timeline for the trial.

McConnell’s resolution would give Democratic House impeachment managers — who will act as prosecutors — and Trump’s legal team 24 hours each over two days to present their cases. The resolution says nothing about whether witnesses would be called and new evidence allowed to be introduced.

McConnell and the Republicans have made no secret of wanting the trial to be a quick as possible resulting in Trump’s acquittal.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said late Monday that McConnell is going along with what he calls Trump’s “cover-up hook, line, and sinker.”  

“On something as important as impeachment, Senator McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace,” Schumer said, accusing most Republicans of bring frightened of the president.

Lawyers: Trump did ‘absolutely nothing wrong’

Trump’s lawyers are assailing the impeachment case against him as a “dangerous perversion of the Constitution,” asserting he did “absolutely nothing wrong” in pressing Ukraine to launch investigations to benefit himself politically.

The lawyers say Democrats pushing for Trump’s removal are not trying to find the truth about Trump’s Ukraine-related actions, but are looking to overturn his 2016 election and interfere with his 2020 reelection campaign.

The House impeached Trump on two articles. One alleges he abused the presidency by pressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate one of his top 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden. The second charge is allegedly obstructing Congress in its investigation.

Democratic lawmakers had earlier said it was clear that the “evidence overwhelmingly establishes” that Trump is guilty of both charges.

The Trump lawyers, in their 110-page filing, said that president was conducting normal foreign policy affairs in dealing with Zelenskiy.

They said he did not commit a crime, even though conviction of an impeached U.S. president and removal from office does not depend on a specific violation of a criminal law. Rather, it is how the 100 members of the Senate, acting as jurors, interpret the standard for conviction set out in the U.S. Constitution, whether a president has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.”  

No matter the legal arguments for and against Trump, he almost certainly will be acquitted by the Republican-majority Senate, where a two-thirds vote against him would be required for a conviction and removal from office.

At least 20 of the 53 Senate Republicans would have to join all 47 Democrats to convict Trump, and no Republican has called for his ouster.

The White House predicts Trump’s acquittal within two weeks. But the trial could last much longer if Democrats succeed in persuading four Republicans to join them in calling for testimony from key Trump aides about the president’s Ukraine-related actions.

Democrats want to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and others about how Trump asked for investigations of Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company, and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats. Trump’s Ukraine efforts came at the same time he was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid that Ukraine wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Trump has said he wants to call the Bidens as witnesses at his trial, along with the still-unidentified whistleblower who first disclosed that Trump in a July phone call asked Zelenskiy to launch the Biden investigations. But on Twitter Monday, he seemed averse to hearing testimony from Bolton, whom he ousted in September.

Democrats, Trump said, “didn’t want John Bolton and others in the House” to testify. “They were in too much of a rush. Now they want them all in the Senate. Not supposed to be that way!”

Democrats pushing for Trump’s impeachment had sought testimony from Bolton and others in Trump’s orbit; however, the potential witnesses complied with the president’s edict to not cooperate with the House investigation, although others ignored it and testified. Democratic lawmakers abandoned efforts to subpoena some witnesses out of fear that the legal fights over their testimony would extend for months and instead moved ahead to adopt the impeachment articles without hearing them testify under oath.

Bolton now says he is willing to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed by the Senate.

Trump, who almost daily ridicules the impeachment effort, tweeted Monday, “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer is now asking for ‘fairness’, when he and the Democrat House members worked together to make sure I got ZERO fairness in the House. So, what else is new?”

Trump eventually released the Ukraine military aid in September after a 55-day delay without Zelenskiy launching the Biden investigations. Republicans say that is proof Trump did not engage in a quid pro quo — the military aid in exchange for the investigations to help him politically.

Two other presidents — Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 — were impeached by the House but acquitted in Senate trials and remained in office.

President Richard Nixon faced almost certain impeachment in 1974 in the Watergate political scandal, but resigned before the House acted. (VOA News)

Pardon Deal for Naama Issachar Advances Prior to Putin Arrival in Israel

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Yaffa Issachar, mother of Naama Issachar, an Israeli jailed in Russia. (Flash90)

According to reports in the Israeli media, Israel and Russia agreed to the broad contours of a pardon for the young backpacker jailed in Moscow over drug possession.

By: WIN Staff & JNS

On Monday evening, reports on Channels 12 and 13 in Israel indicated that a deal was moving forward for the release of Naama Issachar from Russian prison.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, during a meeting many hope will result in an announcement regarding Issachar’s release.

According to Times of Israel, the two nations had “agree[d] in principle” on pardoning Issachar as of Monday evening.

Reports related to the pardon indicated that Israel would be required to make concessions to Russia in exchange for the pardon, including potentially altering the status of a Russian building near Jerusalem’s Old City.

Yaffa Issachar, Naama’s mother, commented on Sunday, “We’ll know this week when Naama will be released. I want to go see [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and show him my support. I believe that Putin will pardon her.”

Issachar was arrested in April during a layover in Moscow on the way back to Israel, after 9.5 grams of marijuana were found in her checked luggage. Though she denied having any intention of leaving the airport, she was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

Putin is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday to take part in the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum along with dignitaries and heads of state from around the world.

Ahead of his arrival, rumors have swirled in the Russian and Israeli press that the Russian president is considering pardoning Issachar.

At the airport on Sunday, Yaffa Issachar urged the supporters who had arrived to welcome her not to protest or cause an incident during Putin’s visit.

“I appreciate everything you have done to bring Naama’s plight to the public sphere,” she said, “but now is the time to let negotiations play out.”

Following a conversation with Putin last week, Netanyahu on Sunday alluded to the possibility of a pardon, stating at his weekly Cabinet meeting, “I hope that on the occasion of the visit, we will also hear good news soon.”

According to Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov is scheduled to meet with Israeli Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a pardon for Issachar. (World Israel News)

Read more at: World Israel News

 

 

Should the 5th Ave Frick Museum Buy Jeffrey Epstein’s Old Mansion?

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Preservationists are reportedly calling on the Frick Museum at 1 East 70th Street to buy the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s old Upper East Side mansion. Photo Credit: thirteen.org

By: Jeff Sagorties

Preservationists are reportedly calling on the Frick Museum at 1 East 70th Street to buy the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s old Upper East Side mansion.

The museum is currently in the process of expanding its facilities, a move that has riled some neighbors.

Several groups, including ones called Save the Frick and Stop Irresponsible Frick Development, are involved. Indeed, the Frick Collection’s planned expansion has had local residents upset over the prospect for years. One part of the expansion involves getting rid of the Frick’s music room and using the space instead to expand an exhibition area.

The director of Save the Frick, an architect and preservationist named Theodore Grunewald, has voiced the opinion that the planned changes to the museum’s music room would not be necessary if it purchased several nearby houses, including the one that belonged to Epstein.

However, Frick COO maintains that the Frick would not have to do this if it buys Epstein’s mansion at 9 East 71st Street and other nearby houses.

According to Frick’s chief operating officer Joe Shatoff, however, such a move would do nothing to help the museum realize its goals. “Our renovation and revitalization plan has been guided carefully by two key tenets — first and foremost, to preserve the unique, intimate experience of the Frick, and secondly, to ensure the long-term future of the museum and library,” he said in a statement to the New York Daily News. “A separate building across the street does not answer these needs and would not provide the critical adjacencies required to make it a functional solution.”

Facets of the Frick’s expansion strategy include remodeling nearly 6,000 square feet for use as an education center. It would also improve wheelchair accessibility and allow greater public access.

Internationally recognized as a premier museum and research center, the Frick is known for its distinguished Old Master paintings and outstanding examples of European sculpture and decorative arts, the museum points out on its web site.

“The collection was assembled by the Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919) and is housed in his former residence on Fifth Avenue. One of New York City’s few remaining Gilded Age mansions, it provides a tranquil environment for visitors to experience masterpieces by artists such as Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Goya, and Whistler. The museum opened in 1935 and has continued to acquire works of art since Mr. Frick’s death.”

Prosecutors Furious Over Lack of White Female Jurors in Harvey Weinstein Case

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Page Six reported : On Jan. 8, the female juror, whose name is being withheld by the Post, said in open court, “I have a close friend who had an encounter with [the] defendant in his hotel room, and I do not think I can be a fair juror in this case.” Photo Credit: Getty Images

By: Rusty Brooks

Over half of the jurors in the Harvey Weinstein case are men, according to the N.Y Times.

 The N.Y Times reported: “They are systematically eliminating every young white woman on this jury,” the lead prosecutor, Joan Illuzzi, said in court on Thursday afternoon. She renewed the same protest vigorously on Friday, noting the defense had objected to “every single white woman.”

The Times also reported: “Defense lawyers said their resistance to seating certain people had to do with their responses on a questionnaire, which, in their minds, raised doubts about whether the prospective jurors could be fair. Mr. Weinstein’s lead lawyer, Donna Rotunno, said the challenges “had nothing to do with race or sex, frankly.”

The defense was also careful to eliminate any woman who had been a victim of sexual assault or had a close friend or family member as a victim. 

7 men have been picked as jurors and 5 women., 3 of them white woman. All of Weinstein’s accusers are white women. 

There was a level of difficulty picking the jurors from the start.

Page Six reported in an exclusive that: Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers asked a judge Friday to dismiss all prospective jurors present when a panelist said she couldn’t be impartial since her good friend had a run-in with the disgraced movie mogul.

This incident happened on the 4th day of jury selection for the huge trial of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Page Six reported : On Jan. 8, the female juror, whose name is being withheld by the Post, said in open court, “I have a close friend who had an encounter with [the] defendant in his hotel room, and I do not think I can be a fair juror in this case.”

The potential juror did not reveal any further details about her friend and the Weinstein incident.

Finally, last Friday the full jury was seated, ending a long 2-week process which included the incident that Page Six reported. 

The New York Times stated: “ Ms. Illuzzi did not say in court why having few young white women on the jury would be problematic for the prosecution, but the district attorney’s office appeared to be operating on the theory that such jurors were likely to be sympathetic to Mr. Weinstein’s accusers” 

 

Threatening Presence? Hamas Puts Checkpoint Near New Int’l Hospital

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Photo Credit: Majdi Fathi/TPS on 20 January, 2020

By: Baruch Yedid

Hamas’ security forces have established a new military checkpoint in the proximity of the new soon to be opened international-sponsored hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

The new checkpoint established Sunday is situated near an already active checkpoint that monitors all residents and delegations entering into the Strip.

A source in Gaza told TPS that the new checkpoint was established due to the sensitivity surrounding the opening of the new hospital.

The 10-acre hospital will consist of infrastructure dismantled from the IDF’s military hospital established by Israel a few years ago on the border with Syria, and equipment donated by a US organization, Friendship NGO. This project will also include support from Qatar, which has already invested $1 million.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is opposed the project because it claims that it is part of the understandings which are currently forming between Israel and Hamas, and which are expected to deepen the split between the PA’s government in Ramallah and Hamas’ rule in Gaza.

Fatah and PA sources said in talks with TPS that “while Israel and the US are preventing financial aid and support from hospitals in the PA and eastern Jerusalem, the US is actually promoting the Gaza Strip’s suspicious plan to establish a hospital that will block the union between the two Palestinian government areas.”

Ramallah claims that the hospital is “a crime committed by Hamas against the residents of the PA,” part of a plan to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.

The PA also fears that the hospital paves the way to direct US-Hamas relations and “the beginning of a campaign that will allow the establishment of a Gazan emirate sponsored by the US.”

Hamas supports the hospital’s establishment because of the collapse of the health services in the Gaza Strip but is facing opposition from Gazan factions who oppose it because of its location, just 200 meters from the Erez Crossing, could facilitate a rapid Israeli takeover of the hospital.

Gazan factions also claim that the site was chosen by Israel and the US so that they can promote security interests through civilian organizations.

Photos of Americans from the hospital’s establishment team, dressed in uniforms that look like those worn by marines, have recently stirred criticism on social networks against Hamas’ consent for a foreign military presence in the Gaza Strip.

Radical Islam opposes the presence of foreign countries in the territory of Islamic countries. (TPS)

Bloomberg Proposes Economic Justice Plan for Black Americans   

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New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said: “For hundreds of years America systematically stole black lives, black freedom & black labor. A theft of labor and a transfer of wealth- enshrined in law and enforced by violence…”Photo Credit: Getty Images 

By: Jared Evan 

Presidential hopeful and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg  continues to slide into the far left spectrum of the Democrat party as he rolled out his plan to force  all new cars to be electric by 2035 and new buildings to produce zero carbon emissions by 2025 as part of clean energy plans and began a race based political agenda as he rolled out the Greenwood initiative, a plan named after the Tulsa race massacre of 1921, aimed to help African American business owners and communities. 

Bloomberg, a multi-billionaire, is a Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Climate, so it’s no shock a large part of his platform is based around “Global warming” climate theory. 

A.P reported: “Bloomberg’s latest climate plans build off his December plan to cut the United States’ carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. That’s less ambitious than the Green New Deal that many of his competitors have embraced that calls for achieving net-zero carbon emissions within 10 years. Bloomberg’s plans do not include total costs or specifics on how they would be paid for details his campaign advisers say they will share later.”

His rhetoric is beginning to sound more like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez every day as his campaign blurts out popular ideas among “woke” progressives about the environment, racial inequality and constant anti Trump blather on social media. 

This is a drastic turn from the pragmatic centrist Bloomberg was known for when he served 3 terms as NYC mayor.

On Sunday afternoon his campaign tweeted and posted on Facebook rhetoric you would hear from a “woke” politician like Ilhan Omar or Minister Farrakhan: “For hundreds of years America systematically stole black lives, black freedom & black labor. A theft of labor and a transfer of wealth- enshrined in law and enforced by violence…” his campaign social media handlers posted. 

 On his environmental goals, A.P reported: “The newest plan, released Friday, outlines how Bloomberg would cut down on pollution from cars and trucks, the nation’s biggest source of carbon emissions. While the plan calls for new federal standards requiring all new cars to be electric by 2035, it would require 15% of the nation’s trucks and buses to be pollution-free by 2030.

The irony of  electric cars that escapes environmentalists like Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie sanders is that according  International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit that conducts research for environmental regulators: “electric vehicle manufacturing requires more energy and produces more emissions than manufacturing a conventional car because of the electric vehicles’ batteries. Lithium-ion battery production requires extracting and refining rare earth metals and is energy intensive because of the high heat and sterile conditions involved. Most lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles in Europe in 2016 were produced in Japan and South Korea, where approximately 25 percent to 40 percent of electricity generation is from coal” according to their 2018 study.

These kinds of statements and lofty ideas are crafted very carefully by campaign analysts and are designed to appeal to a specific voting population.

The “new” Mike Bloomberg, went to Tulsa, Oklahoma last Sunday on MLK weekend to discuss his “white privilege” and discussed his latest, a plan called the Greenwood initiative, a plan named after the Tulsa race massacre of 1921.

The three major goals in the racial wealth plan, called the “Greenwood Initiative,” are increasing home ownership to 1 million more African Americans, getting more capital to 100,000 more entrepreneurs — specifically black women, who make up the fastest-growing group of new entrepreneurs — and flooding 100 impoverished neighborhoods in the country with $70 billion for pilot programs and community investments, ABC news reported. 

 

Coca Cola Bldg in NYC Sold for $946M; Biggest Property Sale of 2nd Half of 2019

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According to Real Capital Analytics, the Coca-Cola building represented the biggest property sale during the second half of 2019, at $946 million. Photo Credit: wikimapia.org Coca Cola Bldg in NYC Sold for $946M; Biggest Property Sale of 2nd Half of 2019

By Tom Roberts

The second half of 2019 saw some major-league property sales go through, a good portent for 2020.

According to Real Capital Analytics, the Coca-Cola building represented the biggest property sale during the second half of 2019, at $946 million. That was followed by 341 9th Avenue, the Morgan North Post Office, at $798 million; 685 3rd Avenue, at $451 million; and 24 – 02 49th Avenue at $438 million.

The Coca-Cola Building, at 711 Fifth Avenue, went up in 1927 “and was inherited by Coca-Cola after the beverage conglomerate’s 1983 purchase of Columbia Pictures,” Crain’s New York Business reported. “SHVO and Bilgili Holding now own the 18-floor office and retail tower, which counts Allen & Co. and The Polo Bar as tenants. The developers intend to enhance the building’s public spaces and amenities.”

The 340,000-square-foot 711 Fifth has “enjoyed almost a century of institutional ownership as one of only 20 boutique office buildings along Fifth Avenue,” according to Shvo’s website. It acquired its current nickname with Coca-Cola’s 1983 acquisition of Columbia Pictures, then its largest tenant.

In October, it was announced that Tishman Speyer and the United States Post Office had finished their deal to redevelop the upper floors of a historic postal facility into a dynamic office complex above West Chelsea.
“Known as the Morgan North Postal Facility, the building was originally completed in 1933 and encompasses an entire city block from Ninth to Tenth Avenue and 29th to 30th Streets,” noted newyorkyimby.com.

“Scope of work includes a renovation of the structure’s fifth through tenth floors in addition to the creation of more than 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail along Ninth Avenue. Office tenants will access the building via three dedicated lobbies and elevator banks, located on Ninth Avenue, 30th Street, and Tenth Avenue.”

Capital improvements at 685 Third Avenue have been completed, with a new entrance, lobby, elevators and new one-of-a-kind pocket park.

Late in 2019 it was announced that Innovo Property Group had finished the recapitalization of 24-02 49th Avenue, an 830,000-square-foot mixed-use property in Queens, through a new equity joint venture with Hong Kong-based Nan Fung Group. The recapitalization transaction included debt from Axonic Capital and affiliates of Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Co.

“We took advantage of the low interest rates,” Andrew Chung, CEO of Innovo Property Group, told Commercial Property Executive. The recapitalization comes three years after IPG joined forces with Westbrook Partners to acquire the asset in a $195 million transaction.”

Israel to Host 75th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation with 50 World Leaders Arriving

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A ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Over 50 world leaders and foreign dignitaries arrive at midweek to mark the day and vow to fight against anti-Semitism.

By: Batya Jerenberg

Security and traffic preparations have been finalized for the arrival in Israel at midweek of over four dozen heads of state and government who are expected in the Jewish State to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland from the Nazis.

Thousands of Israel Police, Border Police, and volunteers are slated to be mobilized to ensure that the delegations landing in Israel mostly on Wednesday will move smoothly and securely from Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem.

Some delegations will be arriving earlier in the week and some on the day of the main event, Thursday. Notable arrivals on that day will include U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, together with a bipartisan Congressional representation.

Local flights which normally use Terminal 1 at the airport are being moved to the international Terminal 3, to make way for the special flights with dignitaries on board. Highway One, leading to Jerusalem, as well as many streets within the capital, will periodically be closed to allow the entourages to travel to their destinations with minimum delays.

The main event of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum will take place at Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, under the title “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Anti-Semitism.”

The event will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day a little early, as the official date is January 27, the day the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most infamous Nazi concentration and death camp. The objective is also to send a clear message that Jew hatred is an unacceptable phenomenon in today’s world, as well, say the organizers.

“Everyone is uniting around the message of fighting anti-Semitism,” Presidential Residence director-general Harel Tubi said.

“It shows that this is not just a problem for Jews and Israel, but one of the society in which it is developing; and therefore, when countries come here and show concern about this phenomenon,” they are telling their own people that action must be taken, Tubi added.

The number of world leaders who answered “yes” to Yad Vashem’s invitation, which was accompanied by a personal letter from President Reuven Rivlin, is unprecedented, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which says that this will be “the biggest political event ever” in the State of Israel’s history.

Many of the delegations are headed by the country’s leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Most European countries are sending either their presidents or prime ministers, while the EU as a whole will be represented by the presidents of the European Parliament and European Council. The kings of the Netherlands and Spain and Crown Prince Charles of Great Britain will add a touch of royalty to the ensemble, and the Pope is sending an envoy as well. (World Israel News)

Read more at: worldisraelnews.com

 

NYC Students to Visit Battery Park Holocaust Museum for Free

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The New York City Board of Education’s answer to a rash of antisemitic attacks is education. Free admission to the Museum of Jewish Heritage will be handed out to all public school students, and teenagers who live in a trio of Brooklyn districts that boast sizeable Jewish populations will visit the museum on field trips. Photo Credit: nycgo.com

By: Allison McGuire

The New York City Board of Education’s answer to a rash of antisemitic attacks is education.

Free admission to the Museum of Jewish Heritage will be handed out to all public school students, and teenagers who live in a trio of Brooklyn districts that boast sizeable Jewish populations will visit the museum on field trips.

As part of the partnership, which was announced last Wednesday, public school students throughout New York City will be permitted to simply show up at the Battery Park museum with a student ID or report card and claim four free passes.

At the same time, eighth and 10th graders from several communities — Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Borough Park — will visit the museum along with their schools.

The decision is a reaction by city officials to fight the smoldering atmosphere of hate that has resulted in far too many well-publicized attacks in recent months.

“We know what the result is when we don’t have this exposure,” New York City Public Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said last Wednesday. “We’re standing in a museum that’s a testament to it.”

According to the chancellor, a revised curriculum in being introduced that emphasizes lessons about bias and anti-Semitism. It will arrive in classrooms next year.

To ensure a safer and more welcoming future, we must teach our children about the destructive force of hate,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in announcing the program. “This partnership with the Museum of Jewish Heritage will give all our students and their families the chance to learn about our past to create a better future.”

“As a former social studies teacher, I know how important it is for students to learn about the past in order to understand the world around them,” said Carranza. “The lessons of The Holocaust must never be forgotten, and we’re grateful to the Museum of Jewish Heritage for expanding our partnership. In the wake of recent anti-Semitic attacks in our City, we’re committed to helping students and school communities engage in thoughtful and respectful dialogue, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage is instrumental in achieving that goal.”

“Ignorance is as dangerous as hate. The mission of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is to educate people of all ages and backgrounds, with students being our most important audience. Deepening the Museum’s partnership with the New York City Department of Education at this critical time will give more students the knowledge to recognize antisemitism and the ability to empathize with others who may be different,” said Jack Kliger, President & CEO, Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

Deaths of Homeless in NYC Up By 39% In One Year; DeBlasio Blamed

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has another record he will need to try and live down: a spike in the number of deaths among homeless New Yorkers. Photo Credit: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

By: Jess McCord

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has another record he will need to try and live down: a spike in the number of deaths among homeless New Yorkers.

Statistics just release show that more homeless residents died in 2019 than in any other single year over the last decades.

The deaths underscore the fecklessness of the de Blasio administration, since the mayor had boasted relentlessly that he was working on improving their lot.

Numbers show that between July 2018 and June 2019, the number of homeless new Yorkers reached 404 — a disgraceful number, and a whopping 39% above the previous year. Indeed, it was the largest number of homeless deaths in the Big Apple since 2006, which is when stats began to be gathered.

Six in 10 of those who died did so in a city hospital. Others passed away outdoors or in other, unspecified locations.

The legally required annual report indicated that the most common causes of death among the homeless, in order, were drugs, heart disease, alcoholism, unspecified accidents and cancer. Ten of those who died were murdered, and 15 committed suicide. Among all those who died, 313 were men.

The overall homeless population hit an all-time record high in fiscal 2019: 63,839 were in shelters as of January 2019, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.

According to that group, homelessness in New York City has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In November 2019, there were 63,092 homeless people, including 14,973 homeless families with 22,258 homeless children, sleeping each night in the New York City municipal shelter system. Families make up more than two-thirds of the homeless shelter population.

“In 2015, families entering shelters predominantly came from a few clustered zip codes in the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. However, homeless families and single adults come from every zip code in NYC prior to entering shelter,” the organization said on its web site. “The number of homeless New Yorkers sleeping each night in municipal shelters is now 62 percent higher than it was ten years ago. The number of homeless single adults is 142 percent higher than it was ten years ago.”

Research shows that the primary cause of homelessness, particularly among families, is lack of affordable housing. Surveys of homeless families have identified the following major immediate, triggering causes of homelessness: eviction; doubled-up or severely overcrowded housing; domestic violence; job loss; and hazardous housing conditions.

Key Players Squabble Over Trump’s Impeachment Trial

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Criminal defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz, one of the team of lawyers defending Trump, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that he will tell the 100 members of the Senate, who are acting as jurors deciding Trump’s fate, that “even if the facts as presented are true, it would not rise to the level of impeachment” to convict Trump and oust him from office. Photo Credit: Getty Images

By: Ken Bredemeier

Key players in the impeachment trial of President Trump and his defense argued sharply Sunday whether his efforts to get Ukraine to launch investigations to benefit him politically were impeachable offenses that warranted his removal from office.

Trump’s Senate trial formally opened last week and is set to hear opening arguments on Tuesday. But combatants in the political and legal fight over Trump’s fate waged verbal battles across the airwaves on Sunday morning news talk shows in the U.S. that offered a glimpse of the Senate drama the American public will witness in the days ahead.

Criminal defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz, one of the team of lawyers defending Trump, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that he will tell the 100 members of the Senate, who are acting as jurors deciding Trump’s fate, that “even if the facts as presented are true, it would not rise to the level of impeachment” to convict Trump and oust him from office.

The lawmakers will be deciding whether Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors,” the standard the U.S. Constitution set for removing a president from office. As the trial nears, the Republican-majority Senate remains highly unlikely to convict Trump, a Republican, since a two-thirds vote against Trump would be necessary to oust him from the White House.

Trump last July asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch an investigation of one of his top 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company, and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine sought to undermine Trump’s 2016 campaign.  The phone call between the two leaders happened at the same time Trump was temporarily blocking release of $391 million in military aid Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Dershowitz argued that Trump’s actions did not amount to criminal conduct. He said that “if my argument prevails” and the Senate decides no impeachable offenses occurred, “There’s no need for witnesses” at Trump’s Senate trial and “the Senate should vote to acquit [Trump] or dismiss” the case against him.

Congressman Adam Schiff, the leader of seven House of Representative managers prosecuting the case against Trump, told ABC News’ “This Week” show, “The facts aren’t seriously contested, that the president withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to an ally at war with Russia, withheld a White House meeting that the president of Ukraine desperately sought to establish with his country and with his adversary the support of the United States in order to coerce Ukraine to helping him cheat in the next election.”

Schiff added, “They really can’t contest those facts. So the only thing really new about the president’s defense is that they’re now arguing that because they can’t contest the facts that the president cannot be impeached for abusing the power of his office.”

On Saturday, both the House lawmakers pushing for Trump’s conviction, and Trump’s defenders, filed legal arguments in the case.

The House managers said it was clear that the “evidence overwhelmingly establishes” that Trump is guilty of both charges in the two articles of impeachment he is facing.

Meanwhile, Trump’s legal team called the impeachment effort against him “a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president.”

His lawyers called the impeachment effort “a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election, now just months  away.”

But Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that heard weeks of testimony about Trump and his aides’ attempts to pressure Ukraine for the Biden investigations, said the White House legal stance is “surprising in that It doesn’t really offer much new beyond the failed arguments we heard in the House.”

“So the only thing really new about the president’s defense is that they’re now arguing that because they can’t contest the facts that the president cannot be impeached for abusing the power of his office,” Schiff said. “That’s the argument I suppose you have to make if the facts are so dead set against you. You have to rely on an argument that even if he abused his office in this horrendous way that it’s not impeachable. You had to go so far out of the mainstream to find someone to make that argument you had to leave the realm of constitutional law scholars and go to criminal defense lawyers.”

The Senate has yet to decide whether it will hear witnesses in the impeachment trial, with new testimony opposed by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Democrats want to subpoena former national security adviser John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and others to testify about their knowledge of Trump’s Ukraine actions. Trump eventually released the Ukraine military aid in September after a 55-day delay without Zelenskiy launching the Biden investigations, which Republicans say is proof that Trump did not engage in a reciprocal quid pro quo deal — the military aid in exchange for the investigations to help him politically.

“We’ll be fighting for a fair trial,” Schiff said. “That is really the foundation on which this all rests. If the Senate decides, if Senator McConnell prevails and there are no witnesses, it will be the first impeachment trial in history that goes to conclusion without witnesses.”

He said, “We don’t know what witnesses will be allowed or even if we’ll be allowed witnesses. The threshold issue here is, will there be a fair trial? Will the senators allow the House to call witnesses, to introduce documents. That is the foundational issue on which everything else rests. There is one thing the public is overwhelmingly in support of and that is a fair trial.”

One of Trump’s staunchest Senate defenders, Sen. Lindsey Graham, on the “Fox News Sunday” show, called the impeachment effort “a partisan railroad job. It’s the first impeachment in history where there’s no allegation of a crime by the president.”

He said if Democrats demand to hear testimony from Bolton, Mulvaney and others, Trump will seek to invoke executive privilege against their testimony to protect the sanctity of private White House conversations.

“Clearly to me any president would ask for executive privilege regarding these witnesses,” Graham said, adding that if they were that important to the House case against Trump, Democrats should have sought their testimony during the House investigation.

Democrats did seek more testimony from White House aides, but Trump ordered them to not cooperate with the impeachment investigation; several aides complied with Trump’s edict while others did not. Democrats dropped their efforts to compel some testimony out of a fear that it would result in a lengthy legal battle that could have been tied up in U.S. for months.

Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago retreat along the Atlantic Ocean in Florida. Late Saturday, he resumed his almost daily attacks on the Democrats’ impeachment campaign against him, saying on Twitter, “What a disgrace this Impeachment Scam is for our great Country!”  (VOA News)

 

Real Estate Developer Offers New Look at Hudson Yards Tower Project

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New Yorkers were given a sneak peek at the 3 Hudson Boulevard tower this week. The new tower will be going up close to Hudson Yards. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com

By: Jim McClintock

New Yorkers were given a sneak peek at the 3 Hudson Boulevard tower this week.

The new tower will be going up close to Hudson Yards.

The look of the 56-story tower was shown in artist’s renderings. It will take up a full block surrounded by 11th Avenue, 34th Street, Hudson Boulevard and 35th Street. Co-developers on the project are Boston Properties and The Moinian Group, while leasing is being handled by JLL.

The project – designed by FXFOWLE Architects — is expected to have more than 2,000,000 square feet of real estate.

Construction was originally supposed to begin in mid-2014 or 2015, with the building’s completion planned for 2017. Completion was later rescheduled for 2021.

The building, directly across Eleventh Avenue from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, would abut the secondary entrance to the new 34th Street – Hudson Yards subway station, built as part of the New York City Subway’s 7 Subway Extension project.

The foundation was handled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, because the subway station is directly underneath; the rest of the building is being built by Moinian Group. The foundation works started May 2016. A groundbreaking ceremony was held November 3, 2017.

Set atop rail yards, Hudson Yards is altering the Hudson River skyline with its rising skyscrapers. Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, a mega-mall, features restaurants from star chefs, such as David Chang and José Andrés, and is home to the city’s first Neiman Marcus. The towering sculpture, New York’s Staircase (aka Vessel) and The Shed, an innovative visual and performing arts center, also command attention.

The project has hit some high profile bumps along the way. According to The New York Post, there have been a trio of design iterations, though a representative for the developer told the paper they were sure the latest design would stick.

“The plan comes from architecture firm FXCollaborative and includes a multi-story open lobby and office floors with 50,000 square foot floorplates,” noted Crain’s New York Business. “A spokeswoman for the developers said they are aiming to have tenants start moving in late 2023. The investors are still looking for an anchor tenant, however. The Moinian Group purchased the property from Verizon in 2005 for $55 million.”

Expectations remain understandably high. “In the coming years, the intersection of 34th Street and Hudson Boulevard will house one of the most imposing skyscraper clusters in the city,” is how cityrealty.com described the project. “Across from the recently-completed 55 Hudson Yards and under-construction supertalls Spire and 50 Hudson Yards, Boston Properties and Moinian Group have filed permits for 3 Hudson Boulevard, a mammoth 888-foot-tall, 56-story skyscraper that would hold 1.5 million square feet of commercial space. Like its peers at the intersection, the FXCOllaborative-designed tower would leave a hefty imprint on the skyline, rising without setbacks from the base to the flat-topped crown.”